


Decoder

by ShianneUrami



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Babies and Bees, Illustrated, It's just cute, honestly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-27
Updated: 2012-09-27
Packaged: 2017-11-15 03:19:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/522570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShianneUrami/pseuds/ShianneUrami
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Decoding beenary isn't as hard as it looks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Decoder

A none too subtle clearing of the throat behind you catches your attention. You half turn, the light glinting off your shades. It’s one of the trolls. He stands still for a moment, a small smirk on his face. You scan him over a few times before turning fully to face him, “Can I... help you?”  
  
He’s got short black hair that reminds you of a failed attempt at Wolverine and two sets of those bright candy corn spikes. Two blank eyes, one white, the other black. He’s scrawny as fuck and he’s practically swimming in his clothes. But that small smirk never leaves his face.  
  
“You’re one of the few humanth good with tech, right?” Man, his lisp is kind of cute.  
  
“You could say I’m rather proficient, yes. Why?”  
  
The troll turns away, takes a few steps then looks back. He’s only looking at you through the black eye. You’ll have to ask what the deal is later. When he smiles, you can see he’s got two pair of nice sized canines on him. He chuckles, cocking his head to the side, “You coming or what?”  
  
A quick glance over your shoulder tells you that the others are a little caught up in whatever it is they’re doing. You could spare a moment or two for this lispy little troll. You’re pretty sure he’s not going to drag you off into the dark and murder you at least. So you follow along behind him, hands jammed into your pockets.  
  
“So to whom do I owe the pleasure?”  
  
Walking next to you through the hallways he blinks in the hazy darkness, “Who, me?”  
  
“No, the other troll I’m taking a leisurely little stroll with.” You laugh, “Yes you.”  
  
“Thollux Captor. You’re DV’th older brother right? One of the Thtriderth?” He asks lightly. From here you can see that his white eye gives off the faintest glow. That’s pretty cool actually. Why though?  
  
“Yeah. Dirk Strider. Charmed I’m sure.”  
  
Sollux shook his head, “Tickled yellow dude.”  
  
Odd expression but whatever. Trolls were fucking weird. Aliens and their alien phrases and their alien faces.  
  
“Where are we going perchance?”  
“I have thomething I want to show you.” Sollux nodded, standing in the middle of a circle room.  
  
12 platforms formed a circle, each etched with a zodiac symbol. Some were lit up with a different color, some grey and nonfunctioning. And there were a few that were busted. Like some crazed maniac took a chainsaw to them or something type of busted. Had they had power, they’d fitz electrical spark, you were certain. He stopped in front of the Gemini symbol, the one identical to his shirt.  
  
“You have uthed a tranthportilizer before, right?”  
  
Your hand flew to your neck, and you clamped your mouth shut, your composure slipping for a moment. Transportilizers weren’t your favorite thing in the world, that was for sure. Or, any world actually. Sollux had been looking at the platform, but turned to inspect you, a light shifting in the black eye. The white was as still as ever. You’d seen dead trolls before, with the same blank eye. You thought it was safe to assume he might be half blind or something, the black eye being the working of the two.  
  
“Alternia to DK, you good with thith? Yeth? No?” He asked again, waving a hand in front of your face.  
  
You shook your head, “The transporter, yeah, I’m good.”  
  
“Good becauthe the trek out to my wing would take at leatht an hour. And the thtairth are broken. Not that that’th a big deal, but I don’t feel like walking for ten thweepth.”  
  
“No, no, it’s all cool bro. I’m good with this.” You shake your head, hands up to try to reassure him it wasn’t a big deal. You were a big boy. You couldn’t let some alien tech scare you off.  
  
Sollux nodded, “Good, c’mon then human.”  
  
He stepped up onto the platform and with a small crack and the smell of burnt plastic, he was engulfed in a white light and was gone. You looked over your shoulder down the hallway. No one had called your name or come after you, so they probably didn’t need you. And if they did, they could probably just pester you anyway. You looked back at the platform, the Gemini symbol flickering back to the bright yellow, letting you know it was active again.  
  
You were a Strider, and Striders weren’t big woobie babies. It wouldn’t hurt you this time. These were built for this. The last time you had a run in with one of these, it hadn’t been made for what you used it for. You stepped up onto the platform, the familiar pressure closing in on you. Like everything in all the universes ever was trying to press you into a compact ball. Make you as small as it could. It hurt, dark and painful, but it was only for a moment.  
  
Then everything was very bright despite the pointed shades. You stumbled off the receiving end and shook your head, holding your chest to catch your breath, everything a lot darker than it was before. A small snarky chuckle, “You don’t do thith often, do you?”  
  
You looked up to see the troll in front of you, the only light source from his one white eye, casting deep shadows across his face. You straightened up, sighing out a harsh breath, “Not normally no.”  
  
A small crackle of yellow and white lit up the room and the lights flickered on. Sollux looked over his shoulder at you, “I wanted to show you a bit of tech we trollth have. Well, I should say I have thinthe the otherth are tho blatantly moron and wouldn’t underthtand.”  
  
The room is small, but it’s got everything an alien would need. Weird bumpy computer bits, a beehive, a big chalkboard and a weird vat of bicolored slime. Aliens man. What even?  
  
“Well, show and tell can commence I suppose. What’cha got for me Captor?” You asked, stepping up next to him by the beehive.  
  
Sollux opened the top of the hive, setting it back against the wall. The buzzing from inside grew louder with it open, but it wasn’t a bad sound. You perked an ear to listen to the troll next to you. It was hard to explain, the noises he was making. It was some cross between bug clicking, a soft purr and the dial up tone for internet. A few small purple forms bobbed out of the hive lazily, flitting back and forth.  
  
The troll chuckled, letting them crawl on him. Up his arm and across his face. He turned back to you, a small smile on his lips, “You know what thethe are?”  
  
One flitted in front of you, it’s tiny eyes flipping between ones and zeros. You watched it as Sollux clicked quietly at the little purple insects.  
  
“What... are they?”  
  
“Beeth.” He said in a matter-of-fact manner.  
  
“No, I can see that. But they’re not normal bees.” You comment. For one they’re purple. For two, their eyes are ones and zeros. And their humming sounds like a cooling fan.  
  
“Well aren’t you an ignorant little shit? Beeth here look almotht identical to thith. Thave for their eyeth, thethe guyth are indithtinguishable from the retht of them.” He explained.  
  
“Alright, then so what’s up with the eyes? That some kind of bee-nary code?” You snicker watching the little bug as it perches on the tip of your glasses.  
  
“Oh, you do know then! Cool. Not ath much of an uncultured nub ath I thought.” He nodded.  
  
He’s... serious? Oops. You’d been kidding when you had said that. But if it was true, then of course you know what you were talking about. They were bees that communicated in binary then. That was... strange.  
  
“They make Mind Honey. Prothethorth for my computherth. Like... tiny hard driveth I gueth. Thtore and protheth information. It’th how I can thearch databatheth tho fatht.”  
  
Sollux spoke about them with something you could only pinpoint as fondness. And maybe a little pride? You can’t deny it’s kind of badass though. All the hardware in such a tiny space. Brownie points to the lisping coder alien. You nodded, “Yeah, yeah. Pretty sick.”  
  
The bugs crawled all over him and the one that had been perched on your glasses was now hovering in front of your face. It’s eye’s flashed and it took a minute to figure it out, but it was trying to tell you something? You shook you head, “Hold up little guy. I’d need pen and paper. Slow down for me, will ya?”  
  
The bee zipped back and forth, stopping and the numbered changed slower. You were rusty with binary, but you did know it. Years of nothing drove a guy to learn some overall useless shit.

  


  
00111100 00110011

Clicking through things in your mind, it dawned on you and coughed out a laugh, “Well, ain’t that sweet?”

Sollux turned, “Hm?”

The insect perched itself back on your glasses and you shook your head, “Nothing, just a hidden message. No big deal.” You smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> Picture and inspired by SybLaTortue!  
> http://syblatortue.tumblr.com/post/30699054703/anonymous-asked-you-the-world-needs-more


End file.
